Samsung has changed tack for this year’s Note launch, creating a discreet ‘Plus’ model for the range for the first time ever. It’s an odd move for a line of phones that already prides itself on its large size and power but Samsung felt that this year, there was room for two tiers of Note.

The standard Note 10 has sacrificed some features, with Galaxy flagship staples like microSD expandability getting the axe, alongside a screen resolution that’s actually lower than that of the standard Galaxy S10.

With this in mind, it feels like the Galaxy Note 10 Plus is the “true” competitive Note for 2019, but how does it set itself apart from the S10 Plus which launched earlier in the year?

As you might expect, both phones boast big screens – the S10 Plus trumps the standard Note 10 with a sizeable 6.4-inch display, though the Note 10 Plus dwarfs even the mighty Galaxy S10 5G, with an expansive 6.8-inch panel (the S10 5G features a 6.7-inch display).

Either way, you get the best of Samsung’s screen technology; both make use of what the company calls ‘Dynamic AMOLED’ technology, offering HDR10+ support, curved edges and ‘Infinity-O’ hole-punch style selfie camera setups.

On that last point, the Note switches things up with a centrally positioned single 10-megapixel sensor, while the S10 Plus sports a more advanced dual-sensor array, pairing a 10-megapixel sensor with an 8-megapixel depth-sensing snapper. The S10 Plus’ front-facers sit in the top right corner of its display.

Samsung debuted its ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint sensor technology on the S10 series and the same feature makes a return on the Note 10 Plus, albeit positioned slightly higher than before.

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Both phones’ cameras are headlined by a main 12-megapixel sensor with OIS (optical image stabilisation), combined with a 16-megapixel wide-angle snapper and a 12-megapixel telephoto snapper.

Like the S10 5G, the Note 10 Plus also boasts a fourth ‘DepthVision’ depth-sensing camera, which should help with bokeh (background blur) when snapping photos using the phone’s Live Focus/Live Focus Video modes.

The camera is also one of the quickest ways to tell these two phones apart, beyond their size. Instead of opting for the central horizontal formation that Samsung’s been using since the Galaxy Note 8 and as found on the S10 Plus, the Note 10 Plus looks much more like the Huawei P30 Pro, with a vertical camera array hoisted high in the top left corner of the phablet’s curved glass back.

The S10 Plus sports decent battery life – certainly better than the underwhelming base S10, but Samsung has stepped things up a gear with the Note 10 Plus. In a somewhat stingy move, the phone comes with a 25W charger in-box, which is already faster than the S10 Plus’ native 15W charging but slower than the maximum rate at which the new phablet is actually capable of taking in power.

If you fork out for a standalone 45W adapter, the Note 10 Plus can effectively be recharged three times faster than the Galaxy S10 Plus. Just remember that it also has a bigger battery to fill, with the Note 10 Plus featuring a 4300mAh battery, compared to the S10 Plus’ 4100mAh cell.

Samsung’s usage of the ‘Plus’ moniker has never just meant “bigger”. It also signifies the promise of the latest and greatest that the company has to offer and, in this instance, the Note 10 Plus more accurately exemplifies this trend. It offers more clout from the off, a larger display and battery (with faster charging), slightly more advanced camera setup and that characteristic S Pen stylus.

All of these upgrades come at a premium though, and unless you’re in desperate need of the Note’s stylus-driven experience, the Galaxy S10 Plus only loses out on small elements like fast-charging and a depth-sensing camera, while offering a sharper display for less money.

With eight years under his belt covering every smartphone, tablet and wearable worth shouting about, Alex lives and breathes tech. Alex’s background also includes plenty of video – you may have spotte…

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